Dr. Arseny Finkelstein: Mechanisms of cortical communication during behavior

Sunday, December 6th 2020 | 16:00 sharp

LECTURER

Dr. Arseny Finkelstein

Mechanisms of cortical communication during behavior

Janelia Research Campus,

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia, USA

Abstract: Regulation of information flow in the brain is critical for many forms of behavior. In the first part of my talk, I will focus on mechanisms that regulate interactions between brain regions and describe how information flow from the sensory cortex can be gated by state-dependent frontal cortex dynamics during decision-making in mice. In the second part, I will focus on information flow within the frontal cortex microcircuitry and present a new optical method that I developed for rapid mapping of local connectivity in vivo. Combining connectivity mapping with a novel paradigm of mouse innate behavior revealed a columnar structure in the frontal cortex and the existence of neurons that function as network hubs, which had an unexpectedly high number of connections and strong influence on neighboring neurons. Finally, I will show that analyses of interactions between >20,000 neurons, recorded simultaneously across multiple cortical areas and different brain states, revealed a hitherto unknown parcellation of the mouse cortex into functional modules, calling for revision of existing definitions of cortical regions. Taken together, these results pave a road to study how neuronal interactions on different spatial scales give rise to behavior.

The seminar will take place by zoom

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88528445194?pwd=eHYrSnBTMGJQdWVsUW4xVStnb0EvZz09

Host: Prof. Inna Slutsky